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Monday, 12 September 2016

EFCC Arrests Patience Jonathan Domestic Servants Whose Name Were Used To Open Bank Accounts.

Patience Jonathan former first Lady, Nigeria.

The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission has arrested four domestic servants, including a driver and a
houseboy, whose names

were used to open bank accounts for Mrs Dame
Patience Jonathan, the wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Sources within the anti-graft agency said on Sunday that the companies’ accounts were opened at Skye Bank.

The companies are Pluto Property and
Investment Company Limited, Seagate Property Development and Investment
Company Limited, Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited and
Globus Integrated Service Limited.

The four companies’ accounts, which have
since been frozen by the EFCC, have a balance of about $15m while
another account, which bears Patience Jonathan’s name, has $5m.

Mr. Sammie Somiari, who deposed to an
affidavit on behalf of the ex-President’s wife, said the former First
Lady was the owner of the money in the accounts.

She had revealed that she gave millions
of dollars to the then Special Adviser to the President on Domestic
Affairs, Waripamowei Dudafa, to open accounts for her.

Somiari, however, claimed that Dudafa
opened five accounts for Patience and that only one of the accounts was
in her name, while the other four were opened in the names of companies
belonging to Dudafa.

A detective at the EFCC, however,
revealed that Dudafa used his domestic servants’ names to open the four
other accounts and then deposited the money into the accounts.

The operative added, “We were
investigating Dudafa when we stumbled on those four companies’
domiciliary accounts opened at Skye Bank with a balance of about $15m.
On further investigation, we were able to identify the directors of the
companies.

“When we detained the directors, we
found out that they were Dudafa’s domestic servants. One of them was a
houseboy while another one was a driver. Their photographs were used in
opening the accounts and their signatures were forged.

“We found out that these domestic
servants were completely innocent because they had no access to the
accounts. We have since released them. The sole signatory to the
accounts was Patience Jonathan and she was issued with a special card,
which is accepted worldwide. She has a separate account, which was
opened in her name and has a balance of $5m.”

The detective said a lawyer, Amajuoyi Briggs, who allegedly helped Dudafa to perpetrate the fraud, would also be arraigned.

It was learnt that two Skye Bank
executives, Demola Bolodeoku and Dipo Oshodi, who helped Dudafa to open
the accounts on March 22, 2010, were also being investigated.

The detective added, “This is a clear
case of fraud and there is no way the bank officials will say they did
not know what was going on. They are under investigation and those found
culpable will be arraigned.”

The EFCC operative said he could not
immediately confirm if the transaction was reported to the Nigeria
Financial Intelligence Unit.

He explained that the commission had
discovered a trend which politicians used in laundering and concealing
funds, saying it was becoming more rampant due to the operation of the
Bank Verification Number which links all accounts owned by an
individual.

He added, “What we have noticed is that
in order to conceal funds, what politicians and top civil servants do is
to open bank accounts in the name of family or friends and then make
themselves the sole signatory to the account.

“Don’t forget that we traced about 17
bank accounts to the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief
Marshal Alex Badeh (retd.).

“Often times, they do this in connivance
with bank officials and that is why the EFCC Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim
Magu, has said henceforth, whenever we are investigating a bank
official, we will probe the entire bank as well because these officials
usually act under the instruction of their superiors.”

Jonathan’s wife has, however, sued Skye
Bank for freezing her bank accounts and giving the EFCC vital
information about her finances.

She also wants the court to order Skye
Bank to pay her damages in the sum of N200m for what she termed a
violation of her right to own personal properties under Section 44 of
the 1999 Constitution.